Three sisters who sustained serious and critical injuries after a gang of teenage joyriders crashed into them on Sunday morning on the M9 motorway have been pictured for the first time.
The passengers in the other car in the crash which claimed five teenage lives have been named as Niamh and Alma Kinsella, who are in their thirties, and Ella Hendricken, who is in her twenties. All four are sisters.
Niamh and Alma are fighting for their lives in a critical condition in Tallaght Hospital while their sister Ella, who was also seriously injured, is in St. Vincent’s Hospital in a serious condition.
The family were on their way to the airport for a family wedding in England when the crash happened between Junctions 3 and 4 of the M9. The sisters are from the Graingecullen area of Co Carlow.
Ella is understood to have been a passenger in the car and sitting in the back seat with her seven-year-old nephew, who was also seriously injured and is understood to have suffered a broken leg. Her sisters Niamh and Alma are understood to have been in the front seat of the car when a BMW, suspected to have been stolen, was driven into them going on the wrong side of the motorway.
Gardaí say they believe that the five juveniles, aged between 14 and 16, are alleged to have been involved in a burglary and attempted break-ins in Carlow and Athy, Co Kildare, in the hours before the fatal smash. They were all wearing forms of balaclava or masks when their bodies were discovered.
They have been named as Jeremy O’Brien, 18, Alex McCarthy, 17, Joey Carthy, 15, Jack Kennedy, 17, and Kamil Pustkowski, 17.
Those within the Carlow parish community said they are offering prayers and support following the crash, with Fr Thomas Little saying that Masses are being offered for the recovery of the family, as well as for those in mourning.
Gardaí are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash which shocked the nation.
Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly, said: “What makes this reckless behaviour even more appalling is that, in some cases, it is being done for social media likes regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves.”
Officers who attended the grisly scene have said they would need counselling for years to process what they had seen.